


Time Lords and Fixed Points

by Llama1412



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: M/M, One-Sided Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-22
Updated: 2011-05-22
Packaged: 2021-02-22 22:34:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23501458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Llama1412/pseuds/Llama1412
Summary: The Doctor knows Earth as well as the back of his hand. And when Earth acquires a Fixed Point, he has to investigate.
Relationships: The Doctor/Jack Harkness
Kudos: 3





	Time Lords and Fixed Points

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to livejournal and whofic.com in 2011. Posted unedited.

The Doctor had been traveling Earth for centuries. He knew exactly what the planet was supposed to be like at any one time. So when something odd began popping up, he knew it wasn't good.

Strangely enough, his instincts were telling him not to investigate it yet. He trusted his intuition, though sometimes he wondered why. But his gut was usually right, and he didn't need to go mucking up timelines.

After the Game Station and the Bad Wolf and the destruction of the Dalek race (finally! It wasn't fair that they had escaped death and the Time Lords hadn't. Daleks deserved to die.), it had taken him a while to notice that that odd point on Earth was now open to investigation.

He was worried about what that might mean and was still recovering from regeneration, so he put it off as long as he could. There was something about that point that repelled him and he was in no hurry to confront it. Besides, it wasn't a threat yet. It could wait.

Then he found Sarah Jane Smith again, and Mickey turned out to be mildly acceptable and something of a hero himself, and he was feeling nostalgic. He'd lost so many people over the years and the loss of Mickey was a reminder that while some he would never see again, he had a time machine. And all the ones left in this universe, he could see.

He didn't actually go to see them, per se. If they caught sight of him, it would only cause more pain on their parts. They'd built their own lives now and he wasn't going to ruin that. But he traced their biosignatures, all the ones he could, in order, from the beginning. He simply watched them, out of sight.

The last signature he searched for was dear old Captain Jack. He thought about going back to 1941 or maybe the 51st century somewhere, before compromising. They'd visited 2006 together, Jack, Rose, Mickey, and himself. If he kept out of his past self's way, he could peek in on the Jack that had lived while they'd all been so happy and giddy with life.

He'd entered the coordinates and just started a general search for the biosignature from orbit (didn't want to land on top of himself, after all), when the oddest results came up. Two. There were two Jack Harknesses in 2006 Cardiff. But there shouldn't be. Jack had said he'd never been there before and there'd been no reason for him to lie.

He set aside his nostalgia and landed the TARDIS a good distance from the rift, out of his own way, but convenient for what he needed. Why was this second Jack so close to the Doctor's Jack, anyway? That was beyond dangerous for the timeline. Jack should know better.

The TARDIS pinpointed the second Jack standing on top of a building, watching the Doctor's Jack. What did this mean? If Jack's past self had known them to be there, he would've said, surely. But Jack had died. It had to be his past self.

The Doctor closed his eyes and extended his time senses. And what he saw horrified him, caused him to reel back in shock. No, this couldn't be right. How could this have happened?

Timelines converged around this Jack, circling around him and rocketing away. It was _wrong_. Timelines had their own paths. Nothing held them down. There was no comparison point for them, nothing that had no end.

Except Jack.

He choked back a sob. How had this happened? This was an abomination, a slap in the face to the protectors of the timelines. It was _wrong_.

But it was _Jack_. Jack was alive somehow, living as a fixed point in time, something that shouldn't exist. It was wrong and terrible and painful, but it was Jack, his friend, his companion.

The two contradictions rallied within him, leaving him lost and confused. He had to get away. This wasn't supposed to exist and it _hurt_ , but it shouldn't, it was Jack, and the next thing he knew, he was running.

He was back with Rose, back with timelines that made sense, and he was ready to plunge right into adventure, ready to forget it all in the thrill of the chase.

Then came Torchwood and Cybermen and Daleks (why wouldn't they just stay dead!?) and Rose, his dear sweet Rose, was lost to him. Rose, who had pulled him through the aftermath of the Time War, who had stood by his side and would've done so forever if she could have.

He didn't want to find a new companion. He wanted Rose back, wanted someone who could understand his dear, dear Rose and why her loss was a loss to all.

That was when he thought of Jack again. Jack would understand how precious Rose was. He could understand the Doctor's sorrow. He closed his eyes and sought out that fixed point, that beacon in his senses. The grief was almost enough to make him ignore the wrongness that was Jack.

But no, his pain was enough right now. He didn't want to add to it. So instead, he ran away again, looking for the next big adventure.

After he had made the effort to locate Jack, though, he remained a shining point in his senses. It was so bright, difficult to look in the face, but gradually, gradually, it began to become a comfort.

When he brought Martha (brilliant, she was. Nothing to Rose, but amazing on her own rights) to see Shakespeare, he expected to be relieved. That fixed point wasn't there yet; he'd noticed that the moment he'd arrived. But somehow, it wasn't relieving. It should have been. He was angry that it wasn't. It was _wrong_ , and its absence should have been reassuring. Instead, it left him panicked. The timelines had grounded themselves around that fixed point, but it didn't exist anymore and suddenly, the timelines seemed to be a labyrinth.  
  
The thought was insulting. He was a Time Lord. Time was something he'd understood before anything else. That it confused him now was the most horrible affront.

He tried to use the anger to distract himself from the relief he felt when he returned to the future and the fixed point was back. But eventually, he couldn't deny it. The fixed point was _wrong_ , but he was glad it was there.

At that point, he decided it was time to stop running. Jack was alive. That was a good thing. He could get over the wrongness. He'd already come to accept it. Surely it could only get better. He could do this.

He landed in Cardiff as soon as the TARDIS needed refueling. No need to rush anything, after all. But the time came and, as expected, Jack was there, ready for the Doctor.

He kept himself calm. He could do this. He'd decided to accept Jack. He could do this. He watched Jack run towards the TARDIS, shouting his name. He could do this. He could. That wrongness was running at him, craving him, and it was terrifying. He couldn't do this. He just couldn't. Jack was a focal point that held the timelines in order and it was powerful and the most petrifying thing he'd ever felt.

He ran.

Only Jack was having none of that. The Wrongness was following him, following him, following the TARDIS as she shot through the Vortex, going further than he'd ever gone before.

The Fixed Point in Time wasn't letting him run anymore. So the Doctor lashed out, told him how wrong he was. He ignored the pain, the desperation on Jack's face and he hurt him and kept hurting him, because that was safer than staying here, than accepting the Wrongness. He had to run before his timeline became fixed on Jack, before the Fixed Point became his Pole Star, his sanctuary in Time and Space.

He was ever so good at running, at leaving people behind. This time was no different.


End file.
